The need for a sexual safety framework: Deployment-related sexual violence against US servicewomen and implications for the women,peace,and security agenda

Abstract

This article examines the elevated risk of sexual violence experienced by US servicewomen during deployment and the implications of internal military sexual violence for the prevention of conflict-related sexual violence against civilians. Drawing on qualitative interviews with servicewomen, this study highlights how deployment environments amplify harassment and assault, perpetuated by a culture of warrior masculinity and institutional tolerance for gendered aggression. I show that predeployment briefings and informal mentorships warn women of sexual danger on deployment. In deployment settings, women are instructed to rely on hypervigilant individual strategies, such as walking in pairs or living near other women, rather than being supported by systemic institutional safeguards. These informal and gendered risk-management practices reflect an organizational awareness of sexual threat that coexists with institutional inaction or dismissal when violence occurs. The article situates these findings within the framework of the United Nations’ women, peace, and security agenda and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, emphasizing that militaries’ capacity to protect civilians from conflict-related sexual violence should account for how they address sexual violence within their own ranks. It argues that internal sexual violence is not distinct from conflict-related sexual violence but interconnected through shared environments of militarized aggression. The article calls for a systemic lens of sexual safety to be integrated into leadership, operations, practices, and policies, finding this is essential to ensure institutional accountability for sexual violence against servicemembers and civilians.